1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to activity-support instructional systems to learn techniques, skills and knowledge necessary for operation control and equipment management in a variety of manufacturing plants for the manufacture of products. Such manufacturing plants include, but are not limited to, chemicals manufacturing plants, petrochemicals manufacturing plants, petroleum refining plants, steel products manufacturing plants, food products manufacturing plants, and pulp and paper products manufacturing plants.
More particularly, it relates to activity-support instructional systems composed of a combination of an operation monitor and control means to monitor the operations and equipment of these manufacturing plants, an operation control system, a process database, a technical database, a simulator to perform a simulated operation training by the use of a simulated process, and a computer-assisted instructional system having techniques and knowledge necessary for the operation control and equipment management entered and configured therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instructional systems utilizing computer technologies and multimedia technologies (audiovisuals including animations and illustrations) (computer-assisted instructional systems: hereinafter may briefly be referred to as xe2x80x9cCAI unit(s)xe2x80x9d) have been developed in factories, as well. These systems are to learn basic knowledge on equipment, as well as general techniques, skills, know-how (expertise) on methods for plant maintenance, electric instrumentation, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and principles related to these matters, all of which are necessary for operation control and equipment management. The systems can be used on personal computers, and learners can learn curriculums in the form of a dialog with the use of the systems, and can select and learn an individual curriculum suitable for their individual progress according to levels of their own knowledge, experiences and skills. They can repeat learning one curriculum if they cannot sufficiently understand, or can skip over a curriculum if they grasp the details completely.
Separately, in the operation control of manufacturing plants, distributed control systems (DCSs) for operation control and equipment monitor, and host computer systems of the DCSs are employed, which utilize cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), liquid-crystal displays (LCD) or other displays. Operation administrators (operators) decide measures to be taken in actual operations on the basis of information obtained from these systems. In this connection, the host computer systems are constructed to work process condition signals and/or variables transmitted from the DCSs according to objectives and thereby obtain control points necessary for optimum operations (optimum for, e.g., qualities, efficiencies, facilities and safety of the processes).
However, if operators intend to learn with the use of conventional CAI units supplied as stand-alone units in order to clear up questions and ease insecurities, or in order to learn basic principles on equipment, learning effects depend on the levels of skills and knowledge of the learners. This is because the information obtained by such conventional CAI units is not linked with the plants, equipment, and operation information which the learners actually operate.
In the learning with the use of such conventional CAI units, the information in the CAI units is not linked with the learners"" own techniques, skills, expertise, experiences on troubles and failures, operation histories in disorders, which have been obtained in the past operation control and equipment management. Accordingly, some learners feel the instructional information in the CAI units not specific but vague, which reduces the motivation for learning. To achieve satisfactory learning effects, instructors or the like having sufficient techniques, skills and experiences are indispensable to bridge gaps between, and link the equipment in practical use and the instructional information of the CAI units.
In addition, the above learning method can provide neither sufficient sense of unity (approach) between the task and instruction nor learning immediately after a question or insecurity arises. It therefore requires an extra time period for learning, which prevents effective learning.
Separately, dynamic simulators have been developed, which have simulated plants (virtual plants) on computer systems to enable simulated operation training on equipment actually used in plants. In such simulated operation training using the dynamic simulators, however, general knowledge on a target piece of equipment of the simulation and findings and operation histories on individual pieces of the equipment cannot immediately be obtained before or during the training, which deteriorates the learning effect, as well as in the above cases.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an activity-support instructional system, which ensures an operator to gain necessary information and to learn in the excursion of his/hers duties during operation or should the necessity arise.
Another object of the invention is to provide an activity-support instructional system, which can immediately provide general instructional information or process information of the past on equipment constituting a plant when necessary, and enables efficient learning and training.
After intensive investigations to achieve the above objects, the present inventors found that learning effects can remarkably be improved in the use of computer-assisted instructional systems holding general instructional information on equipment constituting a plant, which information is entered and configured therein, or of database units holding the past process information data on the equipment of the plant. A solution to this is to provide a mediating means for linking an individual piece of equipment constituting the plant with information and data of the instructional systems or database units on the basis of an identifying means uniquely provided on each of the equipment, and for selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary information and data. The invention has been accomplished based on the above finding.
To be more specific, the invention provides, in an aspect, an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 1xe2x80x9d) including: (1) operation monitor and control means (A) for entering process condition signals from plural pieces of equipment constituting a plant on an identifying means basis to monitor and control each piece of the equipment, the identifying means being uniquely provided on each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to the equipment and other equipment to be used in general plants; and (3) a mediating means (C1) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) related to the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
In another aspect, the invention provides an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 2xe2x80x9d) including: (1) operation monitor and control means (A) for entering process condition signals from plural pieces of equipment constituting a plant on an identifying means basis to monitor and control each piece of the equipment, the identifying means being uniquely provided on each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to equipment to be used in general plants including the equipment; (3) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; and (4) at least mediating means (C1) or (C3) of the following three mediating means: (4-1) a mediating means (C1) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) related to the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (4-2) a mediating means (C2) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of the equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary for the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; and (4-3) a mediating means (C3) which links data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of equipment with the instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
The invention provides, in a further aspect, an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may briefly referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 3xe2x80x9d) including: (1) operation monitor and control means (A) for entering process condition signals from plural pieces of equipment constituting a plant on an identifying means basis to monitor and control each piece of the equipment, the identifying means being uniquely provided on each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to the equipment and other equipment to be used in general plants; (3) a dynamic simulator (E) for enabling a simulated operation training on equipment constituting the plant; and (4) at least mediating means (C1) or (C4) of the following three mediating means: (4-1) a mediating means (C1) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) related to the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (4-2) a mediating means (C4) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying a simulated operation on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; and (4-3) a mediating means (C5) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment.
The invention provides, in yet another aspect, an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 4xe2x80x9d) including: (1) operation monitor and control means (A) for entering process condition signals from plural pieces of equipment constituting a plant on an identifying means basis to monitor and control each piece of the equipment, the identifying means being uniquely provided on each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to the equipment and other equipment to be used in general plants; (3) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; (4) a dynamic simulator (E) for enabling a simulated operation training on equipment constituting the plant; and (5) at least mediating means (C1), (C3) or (C6) of the following six mediating means: (5-1) a mediating means (C1) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) related to the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (5-2) a mediating means (C2) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of the equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary for the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (5-3) a mediating means (C3) which links data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of equipment with the instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (5-4) a mediating means (C4) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying a simulated operation on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (5-5) a mediating means (C5) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment; and (5-6) a mediating means (C6) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with data of the database unit (D) related to the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
In a yet further aspect, the invention provides an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 5xe2x80x9d) including: (1) operation monitor and control means (A) for entering process condition signals from plural pieces of equipment constituting a plant on an identifying means basis to monitor and control each piece of the equipment, the identifying means being uniquely provided on each piece of the equipment; (2) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; (3) a dynamic simulator (E) for enabling a simulated operation training on equipment constituting the plant; and (4) at least mediating means (C6) of the following three mediating means: (4-1) a mediating means (C2) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of the equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary for the individual piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (4-2) a mediating means (C4) which links an individual piece of equipment monitored and controlled by the operation monitor and control means (A) with each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying a simulated operation on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; and (4-3) a mediating means (C6) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with data of the database unit (D) related to the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
The invention provides, in another aspect, an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 6xe2x80x9d) including: (1) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to the equipment and other equipment to be used in general plants; and (3) a mediating means (C3) which links data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of equipment with the instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
In a further aspect, the invention provides an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 7) including: (1) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; (2) a computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) having instructional information entered and configured therein, the instructional information being related to the equipment and other equipment to be used in general plants; (3) a dynamic simulator (E) for enabling a simulated operation training on equipment constituting the plant; and (4) at least mediating means (C3) or (C6) of the following three mediating means: (4-1) a mediating means (C3) which links data of the database unit (D) related to each piece of equipment with the instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means; (4-2) a mediating means (C5) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with instructional information of the computer-assisted instructional system unit (B) on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying necessary instructional information on the each piece of equipment; and (4-3) a mediating means (C6) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with data of the database unit (D) related to the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.
In addition and advantageously, the invention provides an activity-support instructional system (hereinafter may simply be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe instructional system 8xe2x80x9d) including: (1) at least one database unit (D) selected from a process database unit (D1) and a technical database unit (D2), the process database unit (D1) having operation data composed of process condition signals stored in time sequence on each of the identifying means basis, the process condition signals being from each piece of equipment constituting the plant, and the technical database unit (D2) having technical data composed of information or capability/performance of the equipment or both, the information or capability/performance or both being collected, processed and reduced on each the identifying means basis, and the information being process information related to process conditions in disorder, in fluctuations or in troubles of the past of the each piece of the equipment; (2) a dynamic simulator (E) for enabling a simulated operation training on equipment constituting the plant; and (3) a mediating means (C6) which links each piece of equipment to be a target of a simulated operation in the dynamic simulator (E) with data of the database unit (D) related to the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means, and which is capable of selecting, unarchiving and displaying the operation data or technical data necessary on the each piece of equipment on the basis of the identifying means.